Alicia I love this movie so much

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Nikita Volkov Being a Russian, which means that I was raised on epic WWII movies a lot of which I came to simply love for many reasons besides great acting and plot, I have to admit that this one became my favorite.As you must have read from other comments, this movie has nothing to do with what most people expect from war movie: no propaganda, no superheros, no battle scenes. In fact the war makes just an environmental case here. The movie is all about characters and the plot that keeps you tense to the end. IMO these factors make it a fairly international movie.

snakem2000 what you must consider before commenting on this movie is that it is based on a great book by Vladimir Bogomolov, which is quite long and detailed. As a result, making a movie based on that book has been a very difficult task. I recommend reading the book before watching the movie so as to understand what is going on, because the movie sort of 'dives in'. If you do not feel like reading the book, then at least spend half an hour reading about Belarus in 1944 and the Smersh, which translates from Russian as 'Death to Spies'. I you have no idea what the front was like in 1944 and have not read the book, you could be somewhat disappointed with the movie.

UberCamper Pros:This movie does not force a bunch of cheesy propaganda down your throat. No banner waving so typical for American flicks, no bad Germans and good Russians so typical for Soviet war movies. In fact, there are no Germans in it! All you see a bunch of SMERSH guys doing their job, and doing it well. Technically, the movie is very accurate. Uniforms, weapons, vehicles... all top notch. Very nice locations, settings, camera work and editing.Cons:The story lacks action and any kind of suspense. Which would be almost OK if it was 40 minutes shorter. I wish the director had better script to work with.The verdict: An average Soviet (in this case, post-Soviet) war flick, decently shot and acted but pretty boring.The rating: 5/10.Go see Das Boot if you want a really striking non-Hollywood WWII movie.

George Nedelchev This is one of the best war movies I have ever seen. Forget Private Ryan, forget G.I. Jane, forget Platoon or Born of 4th of July. These Belarusians have made a brilliant thriller, with perfect cinematography, fine acting and almost perfect editing. And, which is very important, there is no any propaganda here. This is not "Germans-are-so-bad, the-others-so good" kind of movie.It is simply good entertainment - one of the same kind as "U-571", for example.